Getting uplifted while being moved around

The French have a saying -- metro, boulot, dodo (metro, work, sleep) -- that with snappy rhyme sums up the tedium of modern urban existence. We shuttle to work, then we work, and then we sleep off work before repeating the process the following day.

It might seem like yet another expression of Gallic angst to most, but it gets Pierre Yang (楊子葆) acutely excited because of the inclusion of the word "metro" in the phrase.

Yang, who addressed the symposium yesterday, is Taiwan's foremost authority on the sociology of mass transit systems and he mentions the French phrase in the foreword to one of two books he published in time for the ongoing 2002 World Metro Symposium and Exhibition, which has the integration of art in metro systems as one of its themes.

"Metro is not just about technology or a transport tool. It works on much deeper levels to touch us," Yang said.

Most Taipei residents would agree with him, as the MRT has quickly become an integral part of the city's social fabric and a few stops, in particular the Chientan station, can reasonably be called city landmarks.

But for an MRT system to bear special relevance to a city's residents, Yang said, the system's hardware must attempt to reflect the community that exists on the surface level. This requires special attention to design and abundant public art at stations or on the trains themselves.

On this score, Yang said, Taipei is no London, Moscow, or Paris.

Nevertheless, as MRT lines have opened over the past six years, 15 pieces or series of art have been installed at different stops along the Hsintien-Tamshui and Panchiao-Nankang lines by the Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS).

"The Taipei MRT has actually been a vanguard in the field of public art in Taiwan," said Yin Chien-ni (尹倩妮), who has overseen the selection and installation of art for DORTS.

Art in public spaces was considered at best an afterthought until a 1992 law stipulated that 1 percent of budgets for public buildings be allocated to public art. The law, in fact, did not apply to the MRT, but its passing helped raise awareness of public art's value and solidified the case for setting aside an average of NT$5 million per installation, Yin said.

With these limited funds, the department managed to commission a broad range of works that could be described variously as educational, historically significant, atmospheric and just plain loopy.

Shuanglien station was the test ground for public art on the MRT and the department decided to solicit proposals for a piece that would connect the station to the historic neighborhood. The winners of the open competition for the installation were college students whose work titled Dawning Sail (雙連,遠走) is a picture-and-text mural that tells the story of the evolution of Shuanglien from a rural community at the turn of the last century to concrete jungle. The piece, installed in 1996, is an impressive montage, but one wonders how many people have time to stop and read wall text when rushing to catch a train.

From these stolid beginnings things started to a take a turn for the abstract.

Take for example, Tsong Pu (莊普) and Yang An's (楊岸) Musical Skies (輕鬆的雲,走路的樂) in exit seven of the CKS Memorial Hall Station. In the long, narrow hallway the artists installed rectangular light boxes on the low ceiling. The lighted images facing pedestrians are of trees that seem to be blowing in the wind and of dazzling white clouds in a perfect blue sky. The effect of the work is twofold. It mirrors the scene above ground at the memorial hall on a clear day and underground it lends a feeling of space and lightness, as well as bringing a whimsical touch of nature to the structure of the MRT.